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Oh, it’s been so long since I posted something here. Well, I graduated. That’s the big news. Now I work full time at Denoyer-Geppert, the medical model company where I interned a year and half ago. Eventually I do hope to go deeper into anaplastology and ocularistry.

While working towards graduation, it became increasingly difficult to focus on anything other than the research project. Even now that it’s over, I still find it difficult to start writing again. Hence, this will be the last entry on this blog.

Even during my long absence, I received occasional e-mails from readers with questions about medical illustration. I thoroughly enjoyed answering these questions. Please keep them coming and I will answer them as best as I can.

I’ve been reorganizing my bookshelf this week when I came across The Naked Binder website. I discovered them through their sister company, Archival Products, which listed these binders as eco-friendly and acid-neutral. Not only is the production process environmentally responsible, the archival quality of these binders make them appropriate for storing your artworks as well. The most impressive part, however, is how durable they are. These binders have endured a flex test of 50,000 times with barely any visible damage and survived a dishwashing cycle.

Is the standard size too small for artworks? No worries. Check out the 11″ x 17″ architect binder.

Also check out another sister company, Corporate Image, for more professional options.

November marked the end of my internship at the Smithsonian. I’ve been back in Chicago for a month now but it was only a few days ago that I turned in my Master’s project proposal. The topic for my project is paper preservation for scientific illustrations, and I will be making a Flash interactive guide over the next few months based on what I’ve learned at the Smithsonian internship. Here is a very nice interactive website about the agents of deterioration–things that can harm objects, such as paper based scientific illustrations that my project focuses on: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/agents/

I will be blogging less frequently for the next few months. I’m trying to graduate by December so project research needs to come first, and time is running out…

That said, I’ve been teaching myself Blender over the past couple of weeks and just came across this 3D printing contest for Blender artists. The contest is sponsored by i.materialise, a 3D printing business. The rules for entering are simple:
1) Register with blenderartist.org forum
2) Design your own lampshade using Blender, following the guidelines here http://i.materialise.com/blender (click “Download Plugins” on the left hand column, then download the pdf followed by the appropriate files)
3) Post 3 screenshots via Reply here http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?p=1462901#post1462901

The rules are explained in detail in the above link too. The top three winning designs will be printed and delivered to the winners for free.

The deadline for the submission is Wednesday Sept. 19. Not a lot of time, I know. I wish I had found this sooner too but I’m going to give it a shot anyway. How many other chances do you have to have your own lamp design 3D printed for free?

The Science Illustration Certificate Program, previously at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has moved to California State University at Monterey Bay. The program’s website, http://scienceillustration.org/, remains the same. The program is now at:

I’m proud to announce an exhibit currently taking place at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago. This exhibit, titled “Redefining the Medical Artist,” features the works of students, alumni, and faculty of University of Illinois at Chicago’s Biomedical Visualization program, where I am currently enrolled.

Although the Biomedical Visualization program at UIC, or BVIS, is the second oldest medical illustration program in the U. S., the program continues to push into the future. Traditional medical illustration is still in our background, but students who go through this program are encouraged to embrace technology and changes. Modern medical illustration is much more than an artist drawing on paper, thus the term “visualization” instead of “illustration” is used to truly capture the meaning of what we do.

Currently too many people, including many medical professionals, are still unaware of the field of medical visualization. “Why do we need illustrations when we can take photographs” is still the number one question I am asked when explaining to someone what I do. In reality we do use photographs and imaging technologies as part of our working process to visualize things that cannot easily be expressed.

“Redefining the Medical Artist” hopes to address these issues by bringing awareness of this specialized field to the public and showing that technology does not replace the need for medical art. Rather, it allows medical art to thrive.

*Special Thanks to Meena M. for putting together this exhibit and for everyone who contributed.

Following “Visualizing Lung Anatomy,” I can now begin to model the lung. First, I took screen shots of the lung in VolView in three orthographic views–top, left, and front. Then I set up three orthographic planes and added each image as materials to the planes. I prefer this method over using a background image because this allows you to see the images in perspective views as you rotate objects. You also don’t have to worry about shifting your objects and locking zoom, which in my version of 3ds Max gets a little quirky.

Next, I put more planes in the scene, took a screen shot of every twentieth slice from the data set, and applied the screen shots to the planes as materials. Now that I have slices of the lung from front to back, I outlined each slice in the front viewport. Notice that the outlines are all located on the same plane. This will be fixed later. (If you are wondering why the “right” lung is on the left side, it’s because the “person” is facing us so their right is our left.)

Once the outlines are complete, I calculated the distance I must offset each line in order for it to fit the profiles correctly. After the outlines are moved to their correct positions, you can clearly see the shape of a lung in the perspective view. The lines must be linked together in order for a surface to be created. I selected one outline and used the “Attach Multiple” option under the modify panel. For now, I keep the front and back halves separate so I can easily hide the back side when necessary. Then, using the “Connect” and “Refine” features under the modify panel, I connected vertices between the outlines.

Here is what the model looks like with connections between the outlines:

Using the “Surface” modifier, I created a surface using this mesh. At this point it’s not perfect. I must go back and adjust the mesh until the entire surface can be covered:

A model of the lung without holes in the model:

The lung is looking nearly perfect, but overall still appears rough. Adding “Relax” and “TurboSmooth” modifiers will help refine the mesh:

This is one way to make a model of the human lung. I chose this method because I wanted to capture the accuracy in shape and had tools to visualize CT scan data. I also chose not to model the lobes separately because they are not the primary concern for this project and can be added later using materials.

Have really enjoyed reading about your internship, i graduated last year with an anatomical science degree and want to do somthing creative with it but have not found any jobs that combine the two…. this internship seems perfect tho! how did you find it?

louise
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Dear Louise,

These two links below list the current available internships at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Names and contact informations of the project sponsors are listed below project descriptions. Once you find an interesting project, you should contact the sponsor and have your resume (and portfolio if relevant) ready in case they ask for it. If your sponsor decides that you are a good fit for the project, he/she will contact you with further info.http://www.nmnh.si.edu/rtp/other_opps/internintro.htmlhttp://www.nmnh.si.edu/rtp/other_opps/internship_projects.html

As far as how I came across this opportunity, I contacted people I knew in the illustration field for advice and then looked online until I found those pages. A few questions to ask yourself:

-What skills do I have?
-Do other fields value these skills?

In my experience, thinking about your specific skills rather than what you want to be forces you to think outside the box and will open up more opportunities. For example, I am trained in medical illustration, but I have both traditional and digital drawing skills, I’m good with details, and can draw faces. Instead of looking strictly for medical illustration jobs, maybe I can draw portraits on weekends for extra income, etc. etc.

-What types of companies do I want to work for?
-Where would I like to live?

These two questions generally help me refine the search results. General searches often times will not point you to a specific position, especially if the title of the position does not match your search keywords. If there is a list of companies you are interested in, you can go directly to the company’s website and see if they have anything available at the moment. Adding a location after a general search will sometimes tell you whether there is a market for what you would like to do in that area.